Mcneeley Opts For Activism

Dissatisfaction Led To City Council Post

May 06, 1990|By DAVID LERMAN Staff Writer

HAMPTON — Just over two years ago, by her own admission, Linda E. McNeeley did not know who served on the City Council.

More animal lover than political activist, McNeeley spent her energies working for the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals, chasing down stray dogs and cleaning out cages, not analyzing city debt payments and tax policies.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction Monday, May 7, 1990. An article incorrectly named an organization that she had worked for, saying it was the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals. The name of the organization is the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

But all that will change in the coming weeks, as McNeeley prepares for her role as a council member starting July 1. Her surprise election Tuesday, which amazed even some of her most loyal supporters, capped what several observers described as a remarkable personal journey for a housewife-turned-politician.

It is a journey that has taken McNeeley from playing a city critic to a reformed activist to a spirited campaigner, all in two years.

"This has been the evolution of Linda," says Mayor James L. Eason, who campaigned for the three incumbents. "She started out really bashing us, but she then took the time to become more acquainted with the true facts, and I have to respect her for that."

McNeeley's political metamorphosis was as much in evidence by her change of physical appearance.

Gone were the blue jeans and long hair of her earlier days battling City Hall. This year, candidate McNeeley sported more conservative attire, along with a new hair style.

"I felt I needed to project a more business-like image," McNeeley says. "People do react to people based on how they look. I'm a jeans person at heart, but I realize I'm representing other people now."

"If I'm going to support a candidate, I will always talk to the opposing candidate as well. You always need to find out both sides of a story."

A self-described "military brat" who moved often as a child and finished high school in Japan, McNeeley, 37, has lived in Hampton for two decades. But the Foxhill-area resident plunged into politics only a few years ago, when the city was negotiating to buy a small piece of property near the waterfront for use as a park.

Concerned that the city was paying nearly three times the assessed value of the land, McNeeley launched a petition drive to block the purchase, which the city eventually made. In the process, she says she discovered that many residents felt their voice would make no difference in the outcome.

"That shocked me, the number of people who said that," McNeeley recalls. "I think if you're opposed to something, you should try to change it."

McNeeley found an ally in Barry I. Epstein, a perennial critic of the city government who also raised objections to the land deal. Months later, McNeeley became campaign manager for Epstein in his unsuccessful 1988 bid to oust Eason as mayor.

Today, McNeeley says she regrets forming that political alliance, which she said was made out of naivete.

"In retrospect, I made a very bad mistake back then, and I will never do it again. If I'm going to support a candidate, I will always talk to the opposing candidate as well. You always need to find out both sides of a story. We never did that back then. I think we should have, but we just didn't know."

McNeeley faults Epstein, the mayor's nemesis, for his "negative attitude" toward most council decisions. His 1988 campaign, which cost an unprecedented $56,300, featured a television advertising blitz attacking Eason.

Epstein has defended his frequent criticisms of the council as an attempt to offer citizens an opposing view of city affairs.

He praised McNeeley for her work during his campaign and says he does not know why she decided to break ties to him since then.

The mayor, who must work with McNeeley as a colleague come July, says he held no grudges against McNeeley after his re-election, despite her involvement in Epstein's campaign.

Instead, Eason says, "I told her I'd be glad to meet her. I think that really surprised her. If I had been suspicious of her, I never would have reached out to her. She seemed to be genuinely interested in the welfare of the city."

Eason says he urged McNeeley to gather public support for a large park on property owned by the state along Interstate 64 near Big Bethel Road. McNeeley took up the offer by forming the Coalition for the Promotion of Recreational Opportunities later that year, a loosely united umbrella group of sporting and recreational clubs that pushed to expand the size of the proposed park the city had been planning. The city is now acquiring the parcels to create that expanded park.

In the meantime, McNeeley also founded the Pastures Civic Association, for her neighborhood in the Foxhill area, and became president of the Hampton Federation of Civic Leagues, a post that apparently gave her extensive ties to various city neighborhoods. She irritated city leaders again by choosing to run for council this year, when all three incumbents whose terms were expiring were seeking re-election.

Eason says he was "somewhat surprised" that she decided to run for office this year.